I just got my comics and was looking at the new Chew trade. On the back of each of these trades they put quotes from USA today, ComicsWaitingRoom.com and the like, saying how good the comic is. But Layman is the man, and always puts a bad review quote that ends up being hilarious when you read it after all the good ones. This volume’s is:

The Buy Pile is not only the most worthless column on CBR but the most worthless column on comics on the entire internet. Layman no doubt knows this as well. The fact he put that on the new trade is awesome.

This may have already been discussed ad nauseum, but I’m kind of curious how my fellow IMJ junkies would rank the Marvel Universe movies. For me, it would go like this…

5.) Iron Man 2 – I enjoyed it, but you could tell there was tremendous studio interference.

4.) Captain America – I loved the movie at first, and while I still like it, more viewings have excentuated its flaws.

3.) The Incredible Hulk – I’m a huge Ed Norton mark so that may sway my judgment, but I still felt this was a very strong film, even though it’s hard to look at a CGI Hulk and be convinced that someone turned into it.

2.) Thor – Wonderful movie. Gets better with each viewing.

1.) Iron Man – I’m not an Iron Man (comics) fan. At all. But Favreau and Downey Jr. made a kickass origin movie. And the fact that it kept the Avenger muck till after the credits was nice.

I love the first Iron Man movie. Such a great way to start out Marvel Studios.

Thor just gets better with more viewings.. I totally agree. I liked it at first but didn’t love it. Re-watched it and definitely freaking awesome.

This may be the only difference… I don’t know about my placement on Cap and Hulk. I need to re-watch the Incredible Hulk to see if it still stands to what I remember. And once again completely agree with Captain America. I loved that movie when I first saw it, but it lessens the more times you watch it.

And finally, Iron Man 2 has easily been the worst one of the bunch.

Now lets just hope that The Avengers knocks all of these out of the park.

Everyones always looking for money eh? I just wanted to mention this again because, well I think its important to look after the older artists who have contributed so much to the industry and to our enjoyment. Jonah Hex co-creator Tony DeZuniga is extremely ill after suffering a stroke and needs help.

Just as epic as when I read it in college 8) I kinda indoctrinated Morrison’s early writing as some hardcore wisdom for my life back then, both philosophically and as a standard for effort. I forget how hungry he was back then for telling stories, and then I read the Batman Inc trade now and it’s still there but, like all writers from the 80’s, he’s adapted to the industry’s current MO of writing.

“the only defense that’s offered of things like either Before Watchmen or the counter-suit against the Siegels or any number of different things that have been done historically is that the company is operating within the bounds of the law. The company is doing nothing illegal. There’s no defense mounted to the ethics or morality of their actions, and in many cases they will make kind of passing nods to the fact that what they are doing might be interpreted as unethical, but that because it’s not illegal, you know, they’re going to do it. And seeing as these are companies, both DC and Marvel, that are built upon stories about paragons of virtue who stand for what’s right, not for what’s nitpickingly legal, that was really bothersome to me.”

Any time a Kirby thread, or Alan Moore thread or Siegel and Schuster comes up on bleedingcool or CBR or basically anywhere else, theres always a cadre of people who repeat the “well what theyre doing is legal” shit all the fucking time. Its only legal because the justice system in the USA almost always takes the $corporate$ side rather than do what is actually “just”. There are lots of things that are legal which shouldn’t be legal…

Cool to see a creator stand up for how he feels. When all this crap that the big 2 have done comes up, and you read all about in again in a big lump…it really makes me conflicted that I support these company’s every Wednesday.

LM – Do you boycott marvel and DC, or just marvel? I think you and Roberson are about on the same page.

I boycott everything related to Marvel. I’m not boycotting DC in general because they pay royalties to creators for reprints and for movie use. However I decided to have nothing to do with Before Watchmen because I think its a cynical cash grab and disrespectful to Alan Moore.

I can’t remember if this has been posted before, but if it has I am posting it anyways. While I have not read much Atomic Robo I think this looks freaking awesome. I wish I would have know about the Kickstarter before (luckily it made its target….by a lot!!!) but I definitely would have supported this. Anyways…..

AWAKE had very good ending this week. definitely didnt see it coming until like the last second.
i was watching thinking ahh its an ok episode nothing special then the ending elevated the whole thing for me . what did everyone else think?

i was reading a review of this weeks episode the writer called community the most ambitious show on television, and this season proves it beyond any doubt. its amazing how dan harmon and company layer each episode with meta dialogue , sight gags and drive byes.
i loved this week donald glover wearing a spider man tie.
its amazing how easily they fit all the characters even the bit players into law and order arch types
also this episode had micheal ironside to u the awesome

Tonight’s the nite I decide what game from last year impressed me the most and replay it in all its (potential) re-playability!

Yes, CATHERINE was, in my most honest, scrutinized opinion, the best game of 2011, the year of the PS3. I hadn’t played a game with such multivalence in its story, symbolism, maturity, and complex yet not-seemingly-convoluted stages.

There were many good games then, yes, Deus Ex, LA Noir, Shadows of the Damned, Dead Space 2, etc, etc, etc

But CATHERINE reminds the most thought of game for me. Even almost a year after it’s release, I still think about this game, and how depressed I’d be if it never came out…

I just bought this game the other day on a whim. I remembered that people on here were raving about it a while back, and it’s my experience that you can’t go wrong with things that get recommended on this website, so I figured I’d check it out. I haven’t had much time to play the game just yet, but I’ve got to say that I’m pretty impressed with it so far.

As far as being something that was completely fresh and new, Catherine was the best game that did that last year, no doubt. I have been thinking about getting back into it lately. I still need to get like 3 or 4 of endings to have them all.

I started replaying Metal Gear Solid 4 a few days ago. According to my last save I haven’t played it since August 2008. I’ve been itching to play it again since I beat all of the games in the Metal Gear Solid HD collection. MGS4 is still incredible.

I am really hoping that Atlus announces Persona 5 this year at either E3 or the Tokyo Game Show. I need another Atlus game NOW!

I too feel an Atlus deficiency, and it was at its worst the minute I beat Catherine last year. I considered making King of Fighters my new official fighter (since I don’t plan on buying another street fighter game until Capcom gets their head out of their ass) and plus its a bonus to help Atlus anyway possible…

I’ve been loving the Silent Hill HD. You can switch between new and old voices, each save load, which is kind of a neat feature.

I just noticed, minutes ago, the DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP reference in Catherine. Yes! Atlus is just win!

Yowza. Ok, I told myself I would NOT read any of the Avengers vs. X-Men bullshit…but now I feel the need to. It has been getting rave reviews on CBR and if it does in fact suck, I will be calling them out on their fuckery. Guess I’ll go download them now.

I’ve never read a review on CBR, I rarely go there to be honest, and after reading the AVX:VS review, I wanted to see if they reviewed Star Wars: Boba Fett is Dead. Yeah…I can’t see them being trustworthy reviewers. First, 3 stars is being kind, 2.5 at best. Second, the art was horrible. Third, it would be a horrible place for anyone to start getting into the Star Wars comics because it is such a poor product. It almost felt like they hated it, but didn’t want to say that so they started making up stuff to sound nice.

So in the mail this weekend I got the last 3 volumes of the anime Texhnolyze. They were supposed to send a replacement for vol 2, but it didn’t come, but I think I’ll just go ahead and watch what I have anyway.
Next paycheck I’ll get the last 2 volumes of Gantz. I was thinking about taking a chance on the first volumes of Baccano and Cowboy Bebop.
Also, Canaan looked sorta interesting. Does anyone have an opinion on it?

The Cowboy Bebop movie, I wanted to add, is some of the finest animation you’ll ever witness. I wish Adult Swim would show it more (or even once in a while?) but we all know how much they hate their animes…

benjin stark sighting
i played the gw2 beta this weekend and saw a character named benjin stark, in gw1 way back there were tons of leonidas’s , kakashi’s, and legolases. glad to got getting some love.

So I just did marathon watching of Evangelion (13 episodes – surprised I stayed awake for all of them… reading subtitles usually makes me sleepy). Now, I know there are a bunch of movies and such that have come/are coming out after the series. Are the movies needed to be watched? I ask because I feel like there is still some things that are either not explained or that I missed. I think I get the giant scheme of things, but feel some minor details where possibly missed by me or left out. Also if the movies are as good as the anime then I would likely want to watch them.

I will say though that I was not expecting that ending (even though there have been some talks about it on here). I will say though that it did sum up what many of the characters, though focusing on Shinji, where going through. I actually found it quite relatable. I can’t think of anyone that doesn’t go through a phase of what Shinji is going through.

Cannot believe that Marvel or my LCS isn’t doing a god damn thing to attract customers into the store the weekend of not only the Avengers, but Free comic book day as well. What a blown opportunity all my shop is doing is a raffle. You’d think they would at least do a storewide sale on back issues or a free book if you bring in your Avengers ticket stub.

I haven’t seen any ads for FCBD from any of the shops in my city. I know my LCS is doing a store sale (10% of toys and statues and 20-25% off everything else). However, this is really just for the regular customers. I think every store from my area has some people doing sketches and such, Tom Grummett is one. All that being said, people in my city love FCBD and those things wouldn’t really matter anyways. People come out of the woodwork just because there are free comics and they have been going for years.

It is kind of crazy actually. While many places are struggling to keep open, the comic shops around where I am are all doing pretty well. They all have a different type of customer. It is actually funny, comics around here are actually something that is gaining within the general population. More people are coming into the stores looking for shirts or graphic novels of stories that people have told them about. I live in a smaller city (Saskatoon – big for the province but still relatively small compared to other cities – roughly 260,000 people) and somehow we can support three comic shops (4 if you count the used book and music store that sells back issues).

Anyways, this is a long way of saying that I agree that your LCS should be doing something. There are many comic shops that are doing poorly which is causing the medium to be under appreciated. While there are all these struggling comic shops all over the place, my LCS (and likely the other ones in my area) are thriving and always getting bigger. Many of them do a few other things besides comics, but the point is that they know that they need to do cool things.

It sucks that there are comic shops that just hope that a Marvel movie will bring them in more customers. I find that it really isn’t that the medium of comics is dying it is just that there are many comic shop owners and some of the companies that are causing these problems. I am fortunate enough to have a cool LCS and know what it is like to having thriving comics shops and people get excited about comics. From the sounds of it they actually are one of the few places that had many people come in a be first time and continuing buyers of comics because of the new DC 52. This was because they made a big deal about it.

On a little side note that kind of relates… I have found that I am getting tired of reading superhero comics. I still love superheroes, but I find I just don’t care about anything that Marvel or DC is doing. But yet I will tear through my other comics in a heartbeat. I just think that many of the issues with comics being a “dying medium” are because of the big 2, with some minor problems being with some of the LCSs.

I just finished my degree (convicating in June) in marketing. I love the concept of advertising. I always thought that I was just going to go work for an agency, but recently I want to work for a comic company. Hopefully with the ability to show people that comics are one of, and in my opinion the best, form of entertainment and medium to tell a story. So that is my goal and ambition, to make sure that things like what your LCS is something that isn’t a norm. We all know how amazing comics can be and it should be a group effort to show everyone else that. Now lets just hope some comic company will hire me and we can all get started on making this medium something everyone loves.

I know I deviated from your original post a bit, but I felt like I needed to say this as well as it seemed like a decent enough connection. Besides, most of this rant just came out of nowhere as I was writing haha :P Still I think everything I said is true and possible.

That sucks man….
My shop always has a big blow out, 1/2 price back issues and Trades, Tons of give away’s, A bunch of people dressed up in Star Wars stuff, Free heroclix figures. There are ads in all our local papers. And usually a line at the door before it opens. They rent a stand and sell burgers/hotdogs/tacos. I really feel my shop does everything they can to get people in the store.

Marvel is hoping the movie gets people to the shops. They are hoping they will go see the Avengers be all, “That was awesome, maybe I’ll check out the comic.” When they get to the shop they will be 3 issues into AvX, an event that stars the current popular movie franchise (Avengers/Marvel Films Universe) with the franchise that helped kick start the mass move to superhero movies in this decade (X-Men). They really don’t have to do much more than that since they want to recoup the money on that 2:30 hour commercial.

As for LCS, I think they all should do something, but thing is that it costs money. If they are struggling they gotta think about what will keep the doors open next month too. I mean, how many comic stores do you see commercials for on TV or radio? Not too many. So already the likelihood they will ever reach a consumer base other than their current customers is low.

My LCS has stuff going on, no sales, i don’t think, but they have artists coming, contests, and people in costumes. Also, every bag they have used for the last 8 years that I can remember have all be FCBD bags, so anyone that buys anything there has a reminder. I can say in my time ever going to a FCBD event, I think I have met exactly one person that never read a comic before that day. While it is a event that is meant to get new readers, it works just as well as same day digital releases and universe wide reboots do.

Except that the Marvel movies do nothing to get people into shops. It’s a huge fallacy. Comic movies do nothing for comics sales.

Disney and Marvel are happy enough selling movie tickets to the masses. They could give a shit about getting those movie ticket buyers into comic shops. That would pretty much only help comic shops. Not enough money/incentive for Marvel to care.

I wanted to go on record and say that the SILENT HILL HD release is not HALF as bad as the reviews on Amazon indicate. In fact, I haven’t had ANY of the problems reported. Granted, my PS3 is a newer edition and faulty games in the last year have been mostly affecting older PS3s. I’m not saying the problems don’t exist, and its not excusable for Konami to release (two of the best games in their catalogue) under glitchy terms, but to give credit where credits due, the HD release has been fine for my PS3 (and I would imagine a number of players) and that the recent issues shouldn’t deter any fans that want to experience these games that didn’t get to play them when they originally came out for PS2.

Embarrassingly though, I’m still just as scared playing them as when I bought them for PS2 years back ><

My girlfriend is studying to be a nurse and being the good boyfriend that I am, I sometimes let her practice stuff on me. In some cases, I even let her practice drawing blood and inserting things into my veins. I’d better stay on my best behavior if I’m going to keep letting her jab me with needles. I don’t want to end up like that guy in the article.

I know, I think I’m excited at the thought of a Bayonetta squeal than I ever was about any other game. It was just so fun. I hope it finds a home. I’d swear of all other games if that allowed Bayonetta 2 to live.

I think this was an interesting article about how although Batman was always been written as an hetro male, throughout shifting social conventions, Bats has been interpetted by the audience ( both positively and negatively) as culturally “gay”, despite not being literally homosexual. http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/04/30/the-gayness-of-batman-a-brief-history-opinion-morrison/
It’s also kinda interesting how many commentors mis-read the essay and ranted, “Batman is not gay!”